Green chemistry, which is also referred to as sustainable chemistry, is designed from the philosophy of reducing or eliminating products or processes that generate hazardous substances and wastes. The philosophy of green chemistry can be applied to all fields of chemistry (organic, analytical, inorganic, physical, etc.), in that its sole focus is on reducing waste and hazardous materials. However, the main application of green chemistry is to industry, as it is the largest producer of waste and hazardous substances.¹·²
Principles of Green Chemistry
The twelve principles of green chemistry originated from the work of Paul Anastas and John Warner. Their book, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, aims to introduce the reader to the design, development, and evaluation processes of new Green Chemistry methodologies. The text focuses on alternative feedstocks, environmentally safe processes, designing safer chemicals and products, new reaction conditions, and much more.³
The twelve principles outlined in this text are:
Prevention - prevent waste by designing different chemical syntheses, rather than treat or clean up waste.
Design safer chemicals/products - reduce toxicity while maintaining effectiveness of chemicals and products.
Less hazardous chemical syntheses - design syntheses to use, and produce, substances that have little or no toxicity to both humans and the environment.
Use renewable feedstock - use feedstocks that are renewable, such as agriculture products or wastes from other processes, rather than nonrenewable feedstocks, such as fossil fuels.
Use catalysts instead of stoichiometric reagents - use catalysts, which are reusable and used in small amounts, as opposed to stoichiometric reagents, which can be used only once and are used in excess to drive the reaction.
Reduction of chemical derivatives - avoid use of unnecessary derivatization, such as use of blocking groups, temporary modification of physical and/or chemical processes, and protecting/deproctecting, as such steps require additional reagents and generate waste.
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program
This is an annual challenge that is an opportunity for individuals, groups, and organizations to compete for recognition of their innovations in cleaner, cheaper, and smarter chemistry. This program started in 1995, and has five categories; Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions, and Designing Greener Chemicals. One award is given in each category every year, and the winners are chosen by a panel of chemists from the American Chemical Society.⁴
UV-cure primer on car door at I-CAR training event http://www.radtech.org/Industry/automotive/I_Car_Event.html
Past Recipients:
Greener Reaction Conditions 2005 - BASF Corporation won this award for its development of a automobile paint primer that is curable by Ultraviolet (UV) light. This UV-cured primer contains less than one half the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than the traditional alternative (1.7 lbs/gal compared to 3.5-4.8 lbs/gal). This new coating uses an urethane acrylate oligomer primer system. The primer cures in minutes by light from inexpensive UV-A lamps, or even sunlight. This UV-cured primer eliminates the need for ovens that are used to cure the current primers; this greatly reduces the energy consumption of curing primers. This product not only required less energy consumption and uses safer chemicals, but it actually performs better than the current conventional primers. Compared to the conventional primers, these UV-cured primers cure ten times faster, require less preparation, have a lower application rate, are more durable, control corrosion better, have an unlimited shelf life, and reduce waste from 20% to almost zero.⁵·⁶
Small Business Award 2007 - NovaSterilis Inc. won this award for their environmental benign process of sterilizing biological tissue for medical purposes. The process this company designed uses supercritical carbon dioxide and peroxide that cycles moderate pressure at low temperatures to sterilize delicate biological material that is used for transplants, grafts and vaccinces, among other uses. This revolutionized the standard sterilization process, which was limited to problematic techniques involving ethylene oxide or gamma radiation. Ethylene oxide is a mutangenic and carcinogenic gas that actually can remain on the biological tissue after sterilization. This increases the chance of toxic side effects of the biological material. The gamma radiation is lethal to human cells, so it can either compromise the tissues being harvested, or the person performing the sterilization. This new method involving carbon dioxide and peroxide has neither hazardous wastes, or potential cell damage. This means, not only is this process more favorable for the environment, but also those patients that are receiving the biological tissues. ⁵
Greener Synthetic Pathways Award 2008 - This award was given to Battelle for their development and commercialization of biobased toner. This new soy-based toner performs as well as the traditional petroleum-based toner, but is much easier to remove from waste paper. Traditional toner tends to fuse more permanently to paper and does not allow for great recycling of waste paper. This means that not only is the production of the toner using much less hazardous materials, but it also allows for improved recycling of waste paper. ⁵
Nobel Prize
Starting in 1901 the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden administers awards for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for peace. This foundation was founded by the wishes of Alfred Nobel, who left a large portion of his estate in 1895 to the establishment of this program. The prize consists of a medal, diploma, and a cash award. ⁷
Richard R. Schrock, 1/3 Winner of 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/index.html
In 2005, the Noble Prize in chemistry was awarded to Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs, and Richard R. Schrock for their development of metathesis. In this organic chemistry reaction double bonds are broken and then made between carbon atoms in such a way that is causes atom groups to change places. This happens with the assistance of a catalyst. The catalysts were worked on separately by each man, and what compounds worked, and didn't, were determined first by Yves Chauvin. In 1990 Richard Schrock found a metal complex that worked very efficently as a catalyst, and in 1992 Robert Grubbs found an even better catalyst that was air stable. The method of metathesis has since been developed even further to the point where this method is strongly thought of as green chemistry. The process is now more efficient, with fewer steps, used resourced, and waste, simpilier to use, it is air stable and has normal temperatures and pressures, as well as using less hazardous solvents, which leads to less hazardous wastes. ⁸
Green Laws
In the United States:
Connecticut, 2009: Manufacturers of TV’s, laptops, desktops and computer monitors have to pay for the recycling process of their products. ⁹
Missouri, 2008: All computer electronic equipment manufacturers have to develop and implement recycling plans for their products. ⁹
New York City, 2008: Manufacturers have to submit plans for the collection, transportation and recycling of computers, monitors, printers and TVs.⁹
California, 2008: California Green Chemistry Initiative - requires California's Department of Toxic Substances Control to prioritize chemicals of concern. ¹⁰
In the UK:
REACH - 2006: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. This law aims to protect human health and the environment through better, and earlier, identification of the properties of chemical substances¹¹
In China:
Beijing, 2008: This new law mandates that the government improves monitoring of carbon-intensive industries (I.E. steel, power generation, oil refinery, construction and printing). Industries will now be required to introduce water-saving technologies, and encouraged to switch to cleaner forms of energy, such as natural gas and renewables (tax breaks will be introduced on energy efficient and clean technologies).¹²
Green Chemistry
Green chemistry, which is also referred to as sustainable chemistry, is designed from the philosophy of reducing or eliminating products or processes that generate hazardous substances and wastes. The philosophy of green chemistry can be applied to all fields of chemistry (organic, analytical, inorganic, physical, etc.), in that its sole focus is on reducing waste and hazardous materials. However, the main application of green chemistry is to industry, as it is the largest producer of waste and hazardous substances.¹·²Principles of Green Chemistry
The twelve principles of green chemistry originated from the work of Paul Anastas and John Warner. Their book, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, aims to introduce the reader to the design, development, and evaluation processes of new Green Chemistry methodologies. The text focuses on alternative feedstocks, environmentally safe processes, designing safer chemicals and products, new reaction conditions, and much more.³The twelve principles outlined in this text are:
- Prevention - prevent waste by designing different chemical syntheses, rather than treat or clean up waste.
- Design safer chemicals/products - reduce toxicity while maintaining effectiveness of chemicals and products.
- Less hazardous chemical syntheses - design syntheses to use, and produce, substances that have little or no toxicity to both humans and the environment.
- Use renewable feedstock - use feedstocks that are renewable, such as agriculture products or wastes from other processes, rather than nonrenewable feedstocks, such as fossil fuels.
- Use catalysts instead of stoichiometric reagents - use catalysts, which are reusable and used in small amounts, as opposed to stoichiometric reagents, which can be used only once and are used in excess to drive the reaction.
- Reduction of chemical derivatives - avoid use of unnecessary derivatization, such as use of blocking groups, temporary modification of physical and/or chemical processes, and protecting/deproctecting, as such steps require additional reagents and generate waste.
Principles 7-12Awards Won in Green Chemistry
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program
This is an annual challenge that is an opportunity for individuals, groups, and organizations to compete for recognition of their innovations in cleaner, cheaper, and smarter chemistry. This program started in 1995, and has five categories; Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions, and Designing Greener Chemicals. One award is given in each category every year, and the winners are chosen by a panel of chemists from the American Chemical Society.⁴
Past Recipients:
Nobel Prize
Starting in 1901 the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden administers awards for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for peace. This foundation was founded by the wishes of Alfred Nobel, who left a large portion of his estate in 1895 to the establishment of this program. The prize consists of a medal, diploma, and a cash award. ⁷In 2005, the Noble Prize in chemistry was awarded to Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs, and Richard R. Schrock for their development of metathesis. In this organic chemistry reaction double bonds are broken and then made between carbon atoms in such a way that is causes atom groups to change places. This happens with the assistance of a catalyst. The catalysts were worked on separately by each man, and what compounds worked, and didn't, were determined first by Yves Chauvin. In 1990 Richard Schrock found a metal complex that worked very efficently as a catalyst, and in 1992 Robert Grubbs found an even better catalyst that was air stable. The method of metathesis has since been developed even further to the point where this method is strongly thought of as green chemistry. The process is now more efficient, with fewer steps, used resourced, and waste, simpilier to use, it is air stable and has normal temperatures and pressures, as well as using less hazardous solvents, which leads to less hazardous wastes. ⁸
Green Laws
In the United States:
- Connecticut, 2009: Manufacturers of TV’s, laptops, desktops and computer monitors have to pay for the recycling process of their products. ⁹
- Missouri, 2008: All computer electronic equipment manufacturers have to develop and implement recycling plans for their products. ⁹
- New York City, 2008: Manufacturers have to submit plans for the collection, transportation and recycling of computers, monitors, printers and TVs.⁹
- California, 2008: California Green Chemistry Initiative - requires California's Department of Toxic Substances Control to prioritize chemicals of concern. ¹⁰
In the UK:- REACH - 2006: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. This law aims to protect human health and the environment through better, and earlier, identification of the properties of chemical substances¹¹
In China:References
1-"Green Chemistry." Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/ (February 11, 2009)2-"Green Chemistry Institute." American Chemistry Society, http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=830&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=67919408-3890-4c56-ab6f-2cd8b12fe5d5 (February 11, 2009)
3-"12 Principles of Green Chemistry." Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/principles.html (February 11, 2009)
4-"Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge." Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/presgcc.html (February 11, 2009)
5-"Award Winners." Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html (February 11, 2009)
6- Richards, B. "EPA Announces Green Chemistry Award for UV Primer." http://www.radtech.org/documents/epaannouncesgreen.pdf (February 11, 2009)7- "The Nobel Prize." Nobel Foundation, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ (February 11, 2009)
8- "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005." Nobel Foundation, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2005/press.html (February 11, 2009)
9- Brown, L."'Green' Laws Ranked in 2009 Legal Trends." Earth 911, http://earth911.com/blog/2009/01/23/green-laws-ranked-in-2009-top-legal-trends/ (February 11, 2009)
10-"California Green Chemistry Initiative." California Department of Toxic Substances Control, http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/ (February 11, 2009)
11-"What is REACH?." Europa, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm (February 11, 2009)
12- "China Passes New Green Laws Aimed at Businesses." Business Green, http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/03/china-passes-new-green-laws (February 11, 2009)